Cuban exile's lawyers seek secret files

[Scurrilous]

Defense lawyers for a Cuban exile charged with housing an arms cache want security clearance so they can determine their client's relationship with local and federal authorities

<snip>

"The attorneys for Cuban American Robert Ferro -- arrested in California for possession of an arsenal of weapons and ammunition -- have asked the government to turn over documents regarding the prisoner's links with federal agencies, which, they say, spanned years.

"We have submitted a request asking that the government make available to us the files on my client's relationship with police and U.S. intelligence agencies," lawyer Arturo Hernandez said Monday in Miami. "We are making a wide-ranging petition, so the court may order the release of classified information."

The defense strategy aims to buttress the defendant's statements during the initial interrogations in April and in documents submitted later to the court, in which Ferro claims the weapons were given to him by U.S. agents."

<snip>

"The arsenal -- 1,571 firearms, grenades and ammunition found in his home in Upland, Calif. -- is the largest cache of weapons in a private home ever found by the FBI.

At the time, Ferro claimed he was a member of Alpha 66 and that the Miami-based organization paid for part of the arsenal to be used against the regime of Fidel Castro. Alpha 66 leaders say Ferro is not a member and rejected his claims."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16118983.htm

[Mika]

1. Bosch, Posada, Alvarez, and now just one more in the anti Cuba terrorist networks in Miami.

Guns and money and anti Castro.

Its an industry here.

[Say_What]

2. Another GUSANO TERRORISTA

Sounds like another Gusano Terrorist walking Miami's streets who was an accomplice with Posada in the bombing of the Cubano airliner in the 1970s and who said while he was jailed in Venezuela: "You have to fight violence with violence. At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people". Poppy Bush pardoned this POS.

From the article:

The arsenal -- 1,571 firearms, grenades and ammunition found in his home in Upland, Calif. -- is the largest cache of weapons in a private home ever found by the FBI.

At the time, Ferro claimed he was a member of Alpha 66 and that the Miami-based organization paid for part of the arsenal to be used against the regime of Fidel Castro. Alpha 66 leaders say Ferro is not a member and rejected his claims.

....Meanwhile, federal Judge Virginia A. Phillips has denied all defense motions. In late September, she rejected a defense bid to suppress evidence found by police during the raid of Ferro's house.

Following the ruling, Ferro released an ''open letter to the Cuban community and Latinos in general'' blasting the judge.

''With this judge I have no chance to obtain my freedom,'' he wrote. ``My only crime is to have weapons to fight terrorist Castro; and I believe that is a noble thing to do in defense of freedom, not only for Cuba but also for the U.S.A. because I would have eliminated a threat to our National Security.''

[Judi Lynn]

3. This is simply too vile. Lying is their only mode of communication.

Poor, poor terrorist:

''He is very sick, with severe diabetes, and we're asking for release on bail and house arrest, which would allow him to be looked after by his private doctor,'' the lawyer said.

The arsenal -- 1,571 firearms, grenades and ammunition found in his home in Upland, Calif. -- is the largest cache of weapons in a private home ever found by the FBI.
(snip)

Doesn't your heart go out to someone who is so very, very ill he'd better get home right away so his private doctor can come over to his house and treat him, but he mysteriously IS well enough to be holding the "largest cache of weapons in a private home ever found by the FBI" in that same home.



Robert Ferro

[Say_What]

6. Judi, Judi, Judi,

how do you always manage to turn up these ugly f*ck'n pictures of the GUSANOS. Hurts the eyes just to look at this POS.

Poor baby, has diabetes and is whining that he can't get a fair trial. Poor baby. Lock the SOB up and throw the key away.

A comment in that article that the Gusano pols in DC were being very quiet on this case was interesting. Maybe they finally figured out that supporting terrorists isn't the American way. :sarcasm:

I suspect the days of naming days and streets in Miami after known terrorists are over.

Clips from the day of the bust:

...Ferro’s arrest on federal weapons charges comes more than a decade after he was accused of running a paramilitary camp on a Pomona chicken ranch to train Mexican nationals to overthrow Castro.

Authorities found 5 pounds of the explosive C-4 at the ranch, and in 1992, Ferro was convicted of possessing illegal explosives and sentenced to two years in prison.

Federal, state and local police raided Ferro’s home Friday as part of an investigation into a man accused of wounding his wife and a Glendora police officer in separate shootings.

The suspected gunman, Frank Fidel Beltran, 36, of La Verne, was arrested March 27 at a Rancho Cucamonga home owned by Ferro. Beltran eluded capture after allegedly shooting a police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call, and then allegedly shooting his estranged wife weeks later in San Dimas.

When he was arrested after a standoff, Beltran had a handgun with a silencer and an assault rifle, authorities said.

“Those are similar weapons to the ones we’re finding at this home,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Randall Stover.

http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/cuban-exile-robert-ferro-arrested-on-weapons-possession-plot-to-kill-castro/


BI and ATF agents accompanied by Upland police again storm the sprawling two-story Spanish-tiled home at 2000 block of Tapia Way in Upland, looking for more firearms and explosives. Last Friday, authorities arrested the homeowner, Robert Ferro, 61, a retired Army Special Agent Forces officer, accusing him of running a huge black-market gun business out of the home. Officers are seen gathered in front of the garage where they have discovered more firearms hidden in secret room accessed through a gun safe in the garage. (Irfan Khan / LAT)

[Judi Lynn]

9. Good lord! It gets stranger and stranger (and dumber!).

Looks as if he makes a decent living as a terrorist! How many federal agents can you fit onto one driveway?

I think we've heard the name "Beltran" in other gusano tales. I'll bet Ferro's little violent pal is the son of a more well known terrorist. Found his photo:

Manhunt On For Suspect Accused Of Shooting Glendora Officer

POSTED: 8:48 am PST February 11, 2006

GLENDORA, Calif. -- A gunman who allegedly shot a Glendora police officer in a hand on Friday night remained at large Saturday.

Frank Fidel Beltran, 35, opened fire on a officer sent to a home on South Worthy Drive, near East Foothill Boulevard, after an "open" 911 call was received at about 11 p.m., Glendora police said.

As officers approached the home, the Beltrain came out and fired at them with a pistol, hitting one of them in a hand, Lt. Rob Lamborghini said.

The wounded officer, whose name was not made public, was treated at a hospital and released early this morning, Lamborghini said.
(snip)

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/6938689/detail.html#

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suspect In Police, Wife's Shooting Turns Self In
Manhunt Ends Early Tuesday In Rancho Cucamonga

POSTED: 6:31 am PST March 28, 2006
UPDATED: 11:44 am PST March 28, 2006

Frank Fidel Beltran, 36, of La Verne was taken into custody at about 1:30 a.m., said Glendora police Sgt. Brian Summers.


A 12-count arrest warrant had been issued for Beltran. The charges are four counts of attempted murder; three counts each of assault with a firearm and false imprisonment; and one count each of burglary and child abuse.

Beltran is scheduled to be arraigned by Thursday at West Covina Superior Court.

Beltran already was on three years probation in an unrelated case after pleading no contest in Pomona Superior Court on Feb. 1 to a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon during a police stop of his car in Claremont on Jan. 8, court records show.

Beltran also was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but was given credit for time served and released Feb. 2.

"It's frustrating that we run across people all the time who have been sentenced and should still be in jail," said Claremont police Lt. Gary Jenkins. "It's even more frustrating when they commit assaults on police officers."
(snip)

On Mar. 3, Beltran allegedly fired nearly two dozen shots at his estranged wife, Angelique Beltran, as she drove on Arrow Highway at Lone Hill Avenue in San Dimas, said Sgt. David Vega of the San Dimas Sheriff's Station. She was struck 8 times, NBC4 reported, but survived her wounds.
(snip/)

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/8312596/detail.html?subid=10101581

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miltant anti-Castro group denies knowing exile

ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:14 a.m. April 21, 2006

SAN BERNARDINO – A militant group that has advocated the overthrow of Fidel Castro does not know a Cuban exile who was arrested after authorities found more than 1,300 guns and explosives inside his home.
Robert Ferro, 61, told federal investigators that the weapons hidden in his home were being stored for Alpha 66, a Florida-based paramilitary group that for decades has plotted the overthrow of Fidel Castro.

“We don't have records of Robert Ferro; we know nothing of that person,” said Mario Estevez, press secretary of Alpha 66 in Miami. “We have 50,000 members, maybe more, and most of our members are in Cuba. Robert Ferro is not a member of our organization.”

Ferro, a Cuban immigrant, faces a federal weapons charge. On Thursday a U.S. District judge in Riverside denied his request for bail. Ferro faces a 10-year prison sentence if convicted.
(snip)

The search was part of an investigation of a La Verne man accused of shooting his wife and a Glendora police officer. The alleged gunman, Frank Fidel Beltran, 36, was arrested late last month while living at a Rancho Cucamonga home owned by Ferro.

Investigators believe Ferro may have supplied guns to Beltran, described by law enforcement authorities as a member of a Pomona street gang.
(snip)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20060421-0414-ca-weaponsseized.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. Backed His Plan to Raid Cuba, Man Says

By Lance Pugmire,
Times Staff Writer

April 28, 2006

~snip~
Police say felon Robert Ferro had 1,571 firearms and some hand grenades
stashed inside secret compartments and hidden rooms he built inside the
sprawling foothill estate. He was arrested last week after a search of his
home in connection with another case uncovered the weapons.

But in an interview Thursday, Ferro, 61, contended that some of the
high-powered weapons - including assault rifles, silencer-equipped handguns
and Uzis - were supplied to him by the U.S. government. He said the weapons
were supposed to be used in an attempt to oust Castro that would have
coincided with U.S. Navy operations being conducted in the Caribbean Sea.

"Obviously, now it will not take place," Ferro said. "Those guns I had were
very sophisticated weapons. It was for a fight. I was just trying to mimic
what President Bush has done in Iraq, bring freedom to the country.

"I was born {in Cuba}. I want to free them. I love freedom. I love {the
U.S.}, and I want the same thing for my country."

U.S. military officials acknowledged that 6,500 sailors on several ships and
the Virginia-based carrier George Washington are participating in an
exercise with at least eight other navies in international waters in the
Caribbean. Although the exercise will come as close as 12 miles to Cuba's
territorial waters, military officials said it would primarily be hundreds
of miles away from the island nation.
(snip)

Ferro, who says he's a member of a Miami-based group, Alpha 66, that
advocates the overthrow of Castro's regime, said Thursday that about 50
other U.S. citizens were scheduled to accompany him to Cuba, with further
assistance coming from people inside Cuba.
(snip)

Investigators say the Ferro-Beltran link leads them to believe Ferro was
selling the guns for profit on the street.
(snip/...)

http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20060424/008426.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the story you posted: his wife sounds as stupid as he is:

“To hear this is shocking. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t understand it,” Maria Ferro said as she watched federal agents search her home. “I know he wants Castro out of Cuba, but I didn’t know the other things he wanted to get into.”
(snip)

Oh, jeez!

That's some racket he was running. I'll betcha they have NO gang of people waiting for them to slip them their guns in Cuba so they can overthrow it. As Mika has written, Cubans already HAVE guns, as they are also prepared to protect their country from invasions.

That's what they thought right before the Bay of Pigs, too, when they were absolutely convinced the Cubans would run out and help them destroy their new government! :eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

4. So the Federal Gov't didn't want to discuss why he had so many weapons!

From earlier this year:

Area man to face arms charges
An Upland man accused of hoarding a huge cache of guns and explosives inside his home was indicted this week on federal weapons charges.

Robert Ferro, who claimed to be holding the weapons for a militant group intent on overthrowing Cuba's Fidel Castro, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Riverside.

Federal officials declined to comment Friday on whether they believe Ferro possessed the guns for the Alpha 66 organization or whether his story might be a cover for something else.

Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said the reasons Ferro had the guns are irrelevant to the charges he faces.

"Regardless of the motive, we've alleged he could not have the guns because he's a convicted felon," Mrozek said. "He further violated the law by possessing weapons that were not registered."
(snip)

Ferro is not legally allowed to have guns because of a 1992 felony conviction in Pomona for possession of plastic explosives, prosecutors say.

Authorities in that case alleged Ferro had the C-4 explosives in connection with Alpha 66, and they accused him of training young men at his Pomona chicken ranch to overthrow the Cuban government.
(snip)

Authorities say they were led to Ferro during the investigation of a man who shot a Glendora police officer.
(snip/...)

http://pscelebrities.com/alice/2006_05_01_archive.html

[Scurrilous]

5. Five charges against Robert Ferro, but not one on terrorism (May 22, 2006)

<snip>

"ROBERT Ferro, the Cuban-American arrested in California in possession of 1,571 machine guns, grenades and rifles – the biggest arms cache seized in U.S. history, according to that country’s federal authorities – has been formally indicted on five counts of illegal weapons possession, the Los Angeles Times reported on May 20.

However, federal prosecutors have not brought any charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, in spite of confessions by the suspect, who told investigators that he was preparing an armed attack on Cuba.

Charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism have been brought recently against other suspects. But, scandalously, Bush’s federal prosecutors have not been capable to date of taking to the courts the masterminds behind acts of terrorism against Cuba, or individuals who preach the use of terror or support terrorism against the island."

<snip>

"The (tolerated) terrorist group Alpha 66, from Miami, has denied that this individual appears "on their list of 50,000 members" (sic). However, Ferro’s defense lawyer, Wayne M. Rozenberg, has said on several occasions to the local media that the group took that stance because it is a "secret" organization."

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/mayo/lun22/22ferro.html

[Mika]

7. Not to mention that he was violating the US's Neutrality Act.

Not terra-ists. Freedom fighters. :crazy:

[Say_What]

8. Earlier background article: Anti-Castro group Alpha 66 denies ties to guns and explosives

<clips>

Los Angeles Times | By Lance Pugmire

A militant organization of Cuban exiles disavows any connection to a retired Army Special Forces officer arrested last week after authorities raided his Upland home and found more than 1,300 guns and explosives, the group’s leadership said Thursday.

Robert Ferro, 61, told federal authorities that the weapons hidden in his San Bernardino County home — including machine guns, grenades and a rocket launcher — were being stored for Alpha 66, a Florida-based paramilitary group that for decades has plotted the overthrow of Fidel Castro.

“We don’t have records of Robert Ferro; we know nothing of that person,” said Mario Estevez, press secretary of Alpha 66 in Miami. “We have 50,000 members, maybe more, and most of our members are in Cuba. Robert Ferro is not a member of our organization.”

Ferro, a Cuban immigrant, faces a federal weapons charge. On Thursday a U.S. District judge in Riverside denied his request for bail. Ferro faces a 10-year prison sentence if convicted, Assistant U.S. Atty. Dennise D. Willett said in court.

http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/anti-castro-group-alpha-66-denies-ties-to-guns-and-explosives/

[Say_What]

10. Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror

Great background article on US-supported GUSANO terrorist acts and why the Cuban 5 case is so important from August 2006.

<clips>

Anti-Castro terrorists based in Florida have carried out thousands of attacks against civilians, often with the full knowledge and support of the U.S. government.

It wasn't Libya, Afghanistan, or any other Arab-based group that first blew up a commercial airplane. Al Qaida had nothing to do with it. That first attack, on Oct. 6, 1976, came when Cuban-American terrorists and mercenaries blew up a Cuban civilian airliner. All 73 on board went down to a fiery and gruesome death, including the teenage members of the Cuban fencing team returning from a competition in Venezuela.

This tacitly U.S.-supported terrorist crime never appears on the "history" list of incidents involving civilian airliners, at least not in the U.S. media. Why? Cognitive dissonance is one explanation. The syllogism goes like this: The United States is a good country. Terrorism is bad. The United States funds and protects terrorists. Uh-oh -- we certainly can't talk about that.

In Barbados, where the bomb was placed on the Cuban airliner, the mercenaries were tried and convicted for the crime and served time. But the planners and instigators of the plot, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, got away clean. Posada is today being protected by the U.S. government from an extradition demand by Venezuela, where the crime was planned. (In a delicious irony, the U.S. government's position is that he can't be extradited to Venezuela because he would be tortured there.) Over the objections of his own justice department, George H. W. Bush in effect pardoned Orlando Bosch. He is today a free man living in Miami where he gives gloating TV interviews about his role in blowing up the plane.

The Cuban airline bombing was anything but an isolated incident. On Sept. 4, 1997, as on other occasions, U.S.-sponsored terrorists set off bombs in Havana hotels and restaurants. This time, one killed a tourist from Italy, Fabio de Celmo. Over the years death and injury to civilians has come from thousands of other attacks carried out in Cuba and elsewhere by land, air and sea against villagers, fisherman, children, tourists and diplomats by terrorists based in Florida.

The Al Qaida-like network -- which includes Alpha 66, Omega 7, Brothers To The Rescue, and Commandos L and others -- is as active today as ever. Just last month, Commandos F-4 held a press conference in Miami to announce they had successfully carried out sabotage raids in Cuba in four different provinces. A few weeks earlier police raided the California home of Robert Ferro, a self-proclaimed member of Alpha 66. Police and federal agents seized 35 machine guns, 13 silencers, two short-barreled rifles, a live hand grenade, a rocket launcher tube and 89,000 rounds of ammunition. Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat were busted about a year ago with a similar stash in Fort Lauderdale. The defense claimed by all three is that they were acting as members of organizations working with the full knowledge and support of the U.S. government.

http://www.alternet.org/story/40370/

[Judi Lynn]

11. Commandos F-4 conducted 4 raids in four provinces in the last year?

My God. I've heard the leader, Rodolfo Frometa make the claim they went in there and murdered one of the Cubans who escaped back to Cuba, who was with the Cubans who spied on the Miami terrorists. (Some people have indicated they doubt it happened, however, or that he died, anyway.)

Had no idea they also were conducting these other raids recently. That has been going on for so long, hasn't it? I remember reading about it when the Cubans caught a couple of these bastards, and they confessed on Cuban tv.

On Roldolfo Frometa:

ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO BUY MISSILES
Two anti-Castro Cuban paramilitary leaders were arrested on June 2 in Miami on charges that they sought to buy a Stinger missile and other advanced weapons from an undercover US federal agent posing as a corrupt army sergeant. The two, Rodolfo Frometa and Fausto Marimon, are prominent members of Commandos F-4, a group that split off from another anti-Castro paramilitary organization, Alpha 66, earlier this spring. ... Frometa and marimon were among seven Alpha 66 members taken into custody after Coast guard officials found a cache of weapons, ammunition and money in their 18-foot boat, as they were en route to Cuba to carry out a military action. {New York Times 6/4/1994}
(snip/)

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/142.html





Rodolfo Frometa, the F-4 with the beard

Spies in Miami, Commandos in Cuba
If you disagree with what they do, why defend their right to do it?
By Kirk Nielsen
Article Published Jul 5, 2001

On June 20 a Cuban Interior Ministry official revealed some startling news on Cuba's state-run television show Mesa Redonda. Three Miami-Dade residents had been under arrest on the island since April, he reported, for boating to the island from points unknown and going ashore with AK-47 assault rifles, an M-3 carbine rifle fitted with a silencer, and three semiautomatic Makarov pistols. The incursion by Ihosvani Suris, Santiago Padron, and Maximo Padrera gave Fidel Castro, who participated in the television program, yet another opportunity to portray the Cuban-exile community as a morally corrupt hive of right-wing terrorism.
(snip)

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2001-07-05/metro.html



Anti-Castro commandos like these,
photographed in the mid-Nineties,
sometimes actually go ashore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



You never know!

[Mika]

12. Simply amazing.

Didn't the FBI rate Miami as the #1 terrorist city in the US because of these cretins?

The radical Miamicuban exiles: "We're terra-ists and proud of it!".

:puke:

[Judi Lynn]

13. Absolutely, Mika. The FBI designated Miami as 'terrorist capital' of the U.S.

Quite the distinction, isn't it?

Any search will uncover lists of bombings over the decades that would make someone dizzy. They even bombed a Cuban-American community leader, Emilio Milián, who publicly condemned them for their unbelievable level of violence.

Fate allowed him to "escape" with only his legs being blown away by the car bomb they planted in his car outside the radio studio where he appealed for a turn away from violence, but he lived the rest of his life with extreme hardship, physically, and was given some distinguished award you might remember not too long before his death several years ago.

Miami is a great place for free expression ONLY if that expression is anti-Castro. If it isn't you're in trouble!

Exile groups regularly brand Aruca an agent of Castro's government, a charge he laughs off. The 59-year-old immigrant points out that he spent time in a Cuban prison in the 1960s for anti-Castro activity. But he doesn't laugh off some of the other tactics used against him, like the noisy demonstrations outside the station's offices or the broken windows or frequent death threats.

In February 1992, a few weeks after the militant exile group Alpha 66 demonstrated outside the radio station, three men broke into the building late on a Sunday night, looking for Aruca. Informed he wasn't there, they beat and tied up the operations manager and ransacked the station. Terrorists have also firebombed Marazul Charters--in 1989 and again in 1996--attacks that Aruca says were directed at his radio program. No one was arrested in any of the incidents and police never accused Alpha 66 of a link to the beatings at the station. "We have constant pressure on us," says Aruca. "We are a well-listened-to program, but companies cannot advertise with us. They are afraid."
Aruca is not the only journalist who has been targeted in Miami. Emilio Milian, the general manager of another Miami radio station, WWFE 550-AM, has sharply criticized anti-Castro terrorism. He lost both legs when his car was blown up in 1976.

Human Rights Watch/Americas issued reports in 1992 and 1994 that condemned the perils to free expression in Miami and warned that right-wing radio stations were inciting groups to violence. "Only a narrow range of speech is acceptable, and views that go beyond these boundaries may be dangerous to the speaker," said the 1994 report, the last study the group made of the region.
(snip/...)

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=766



April 1976: Severely injured WQBA news director Emilio Milian is assisted after a car bomb exploded beneath him



Miami attorney Alberto Milian
with photo of his father, Emilio